Category: Family issues

A Grandmother Demonstrates Her Family Values

By Scott Van Tussenbrook Some of my favorite childhood memories are of times spent at Grandpa Tuss & Grandma Carol’s.  They lived in a little two-bedroom house on a third of an acre of property in Bountiful, Utah.  Their gigantic…

Who We Really Are–How I Learned About Love And Acceptance By Failing To Follow The Spirit And Supporting Yes On 8

By Ana Nelson Shaw Intended for cross-post at mitchmayne.blogspot.com and nomorestrangers.org   I’m the oldest of six children, born in Utah and brought up moving all over the country. Two of my three brothers are gay. Jake, almost four years…

It Is No Mistake to Be Gay

“We can practice what we have been taught, to love, respect, and include all others, including gays, as children of our Heavenly Father” March 2013 Judy Finch, who is featured in one of the video clips posted on the LDS website…

Can I Confess Something?

By Del Thatcher (also published at her blog rainbowdestiny.com) I never wanted a son. I only wanted daughters. Is it poetic justice? Irony, maybe? Call it whatever you like. All I know is that I miss my son. I find…

Come Sweep With Us! – A Message For LDS Youth Allies

By Matthew Deane 10-09-13 “Sweeeeep!” I watched the forty-three pounds of granite slide away from my outstretched hand, down the ice towards the house at the other end of the sheet. A sensation of happy warmth kept the cold at…

Parenting LGBT Teens, Part 1– A Vision of the Coming Zion

This is the first essay in a series on parenting gay teens.  This introduction is really about a dream, and a vision of how life will look for gay teens once equality is finally achieved in our Mormon communities.  …

Unexpected Journey

By Anita Stephens It was February 25 2011, I night I will never forget and the day we embarked on a journey we never expected. That is the night we discovered our 2nd son Tyler was gay. We belong to…

MormonsandGays.org Hero Speaks About Her Journey As An Ally

This is the amazing speech that Judy Finch gave at the Affirmation conference on Sep. 14 2013 in Salt Lake City.  Judy was featured on the MormonsandGays.org website made by the Mormon church in a vignette where she encourages people…

Affirmation Repayment Plan

By Matthew Deane . I do not belong here, and these are not my people. They don’t want to read my book, and they are too wrapped up in their own moments to share one with me. How did I…

What choice did you really have? (When our straight LDS friends betray us)

By Scot, (a father, husband and gay Utahn) L, took an active step in hoping to exclude gay and lesbian couples from legal marriage. He explained why, and there’s nothing really to be said about the explanation. We went over it already,…